Hope on the Rocks
by Riika Duskraven
Summary: Nezumi's left Shion and he can't help but think about him. When he happens upon a strange place that is home to others like himself, will he finally see just how important Shion is to him?


An/ Hello there everyone. Riika here. It's wonderful to finally be able to join the world of writing fanfics. It took me a long time to get this uploaded due to a promise with my friend that I wouldn't work on this one until I finished our collaborative piece. But I finally finished that and my excitement got the better of me and this was out of my head before I knew it!

This is just a little something I whipped out as a prequel to a multi-chapter fanfic I'm working on. Warning: Contains spoilers from the later episodes.

I do not own NO. 6 as much as I would like to. If I did, then it certainly wouldn't have ended as it did.

Nor do I own the song "Hope on the Rocks" by Toby Keith that gave me the inspiration to write this.

* * *

_He placed a gentle kiss on the boy's lips. "You're going to be fine," he said before he walked away, leaving his friend behind._

_"We'll meet again." The albino had said, but he was already too far away to hear his promise._

* * *

He had been walking for a while. It was hot and the barren wasteland that was most of the Earth now wasn't all that pleasant. He almost wished he was back in West Block, but he quickly brushed the thought away. It wasn't as easy as he had expected to just walk away.

But he wouldn't let that stop him. He wasn't going to let himself get in the way of _his_ life again. He'd already caused him so much trouble. Getting him expelled from the gifted program, sneaking him out into West Block, letting him lose himself in the correctional facility, getting him killed. He'd caused him too much grief already. He needed to leave him be and let him live his own, free life now that he could.

So why was it that he couldn't get that stupid airhead off his mind? He didn't know. But it troubled him to no end. He didn't like it.

It had been a few weeks since he'd left. He kept track of the days in his head as best he could. In those few weeks, he'd made it pretty far. He'd reached NO. 5, though he hadn't stayed in the area very long. He didn't even bother to try to go inside the city. While not the same as NO. 6, he still didn't like it. Those "Utopian" cities. They were no good.

He'd left the NO. 5 area about two weeks ago, wandering seemingly aimlessly in one direction. The direction that led away from NO. 6.

The sun was setting by the time he stopped to eat. He didn't have much, but it was enough for him. He was tempted to "camp out" here for the night, but something in his gut told him to keep going.

And so he did. He walked for another two hours. He could smell salt water on the air. Was he near the ocean? Maybe. He didn't think he'd walked that far, but it seemed so.

He was ready to give up walking for the day when he saw a lone building up ahead. He could barely make out the words on the sign in the fading light.

_Hope on the Rocks._

He was curious to know why there was a random building all the way out here in the middle of no where. He pulled his scarf from around his neck and wrapped it around him, pulling it over his head to shade his face.

As he got closer to the building, he noticed that it was set just a few yards back from a ledge that dropped off into a lake. So that was what he smelled. He knew he couldn't have reached the ocean in that short an amount of time.

He pushed the door open slowly, cautiously. The first thing he noticed was it was a bar. The second thing he noticed was there were a few people here. He shifted his steel gaze from one person to the next, settling on the man behind the bar.

"Welcome to Hope on the Rocks. Can I help you?" The man was friendly, he noticed, and had to be in his mid forties at least. His hair was dark brown and graying. He wore jeans and an old faded flannel shirt. He was cleaning a wine glass.

"Would I be able to stay here for the night?" he asked.

The elder male smiled slightly. "Of course. Come on in."

He took a seat at the end of the bar, shrugging off his scarf and tying it around his neck again. He could feel eyes on him and glanced around. The people here all looked a bit disheveled and nervous. They didn't seem like a threat, but he wasn't going to let his guard down based on assumptions. That was something _he_ would do. Something idiotic.

"I didn't know so many people were out in this direction. I thought most people stuck near the cities," he commented.

The brunette looked up from the glass he was cleaning. "They all wandered here on their own, just like you, I would assume."

"Why did they come here?"

"The reason varies from person to person. They're here now and I'm here to help them. That's what matters."

This man reminded him of a certain white-haired idiot he knew. "So you act as a safeguard, a keeper of people who've lost their way."

The man nodded. "I didn't plan this when I started this place up, but now there's nothing I'd rather do," he explained. "What's your name, kid?"

"Nezumi."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Odd name, but I guess I'm not one to talk. I'm Kitai."

Nezumi glanced around at the people again, all of whom had gone back to whatever they were doing before he arrived.

"So what brought you here, if you don't mind my asking?"

He turned his silvery gaze focused on Kitai again. "Don't know," was all he said in response.

Kitai thought for a moment before rephrasing his question. "Why were you wandering around here in the first place?"

"What does it matter?" Nezumi could see by the look on his face that Kitai was way too curious to let him get away with an answer like that. He thought about it this time. "I couldn't stay..." his quiet tone trailed off. It wasn't a lie. He couldn't stay there. He needed to let Shion get on with his life. And that wouldn't happen if he was around.

"So you ran away from someone you care about." The way he said it made Nezumi's eyes widen in shock. Was he that easy to read? No. He was an actor. That wasn't supposed to happen. Then again, Shion had been able to see right through him too.

He glanced away, folding his hands together and resting his chin on them. "You could say that."

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you leave?"

Nezumi fell silent for a few moments. "I wanted him to move on, to be happy with his new freedom."

He heard movement and flicked his gaze to the side. A man not much older than himself with unnaturally green hair sat not far from him. He watched as the green haired man ordered a drink, which Kitai was more than happy to provide him with. The green haired man glanced sideways at Nezumi with bright blue eyes. "We all have stories. Maybe we can help you figure out yours," he said.

Nezumi said nothing, which in his world was an invitation for the man to proceed if he so wished.

"I raised my younger sister on my own just outside of NO. 4. It was just the two of us fending for ourselves. Things were pretty okay, despite all the pressures of living where we did. We were relatively happy. One day, officials from NO. 6 came over on business and they were not happy. Anyone who dared to cross their path was taken away or killed. Unfortunately, my sister got lost on her way home and stumbled into them. I never saw her again.

"I decided to leave that place and start fresh. I found this place and I've been here since. I like to help Kitai so he doesn't have to work alone. And I like being able to help people if I can. I know it'll never make up for letting my little sister go off on her own, but it's nice to make a difference for someone else, or at least try to."

The green haired man left the bar to take his original seat again. Nezumi turned to see one of the women, she was probably in her late 20's and had dirt streaked blond hair, took a seat a next to him. She smiled slightly in understanding. "When I lived in NO. 6, I was happily married," she began, her tone quiet yet comforting, "I thought life was great. I was wrong.

"My husband disappeared and I found out he was having an affair for most of our marriage. I left the city, heartbroken, and wandered for a while, wondering what to do. I was going to give up, I couldn't live like that. If I hadn't stumbled upon this place, I probably would have let myself fall off the cliff."

Nezumi listened in attentive silence, but he didn't really understand what she was getting at. "What's your point?" His tone was a little sharper than he would have liked.

She ignored the somewhat harsh tone and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "My point is that he'll miss you. Your boy, I mean. He'll want you to come back home, no matter how long it takes."

She left him alone again and he thought about it. Would Shion be waiting for him to come back? No. He pushed the thought away. Shion was gone now. Out of his life. He was glad to be rid of that moron.

_Liar. You miss him. _As much as he hated to admit it, his sub-conscience was right. He missed Shion. He missed him desperately. But he couldn't go back. Not now, when Shion was probably just getting into his restoration project. No, he couldn't do that.

"You'll come around eventually. You'll see what you need to do when the time is right. Stay here as long as you need to, 'kay?" Kitai said with a friendly smile.

Nezumi nodded and got up. Kitai pointed him in the right direction and he found himself an empty room. He kicked off his boots and lay staring at the ceiling for a while.

His heart had already decided before he'd even started thinking about it. He _would_ return to Shion. But he would have to wait. He would grow stronger and learn how to deal with having a weakness. A weakness like Shion. And once he did, only then when the time was right, would he return to his love.

His mind made up, he felt himself slip into unconsciousness, thoughts of his precious boy turning into vivid, all-too-realistic dreams.

* * *

Hope you guys liked it.

Reviews are totally welcomed. We can only get better, right?

Anyways, I should have the first chapter of the sequel to this up by sometime next week.

Until then, Riika's going to take a cat nap, nya~


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